“Apparently not enough.”
Winnie gives me a look and points conspiratorially at her mom. “Even Wendy’s still faking it. Though, I can’t blame her. Who the hell would know what to do with these hooligans?”
“Certainly not me.” I grin. “I always wondered if your mom was superhuman.”
“Girl, I still wonder that,” Winnie says through a laugh, but when Wendy calls her over to the oven, she gives my shoulder one last gentle squeeze. “Looks like I’m being beckoned back to food duty. Talk to you later.”
I nod then, putting my hands to my hips and then my pockets and then crossing them over my chest when neither of those feels right. For two months, I’ve done nothing but hold stuff. Bottles, babies, toys. My hands don’t know how to just hang anymore.
I spot Remy again as he moves to his mother to give her a quick hug. And when he turns around with a heart-stopping smile and scans his siblings and their significant others, it’s all over.
He spots Izzy in Rachel’s arms and doesn’t hesitate to steal her.
“No way, Rach, this is my girl. I always have dibs,” he says, and Rachel gives him the stink eye but also grins at his dramatics.
For the first time since I got here, I start to relax a little. But when he meets my eyes over the top of Izzy’s head and winks at me, all relaxation flees again.
How can one man whom I’ve just started to really get to know again make my heart race so much?
Remy
My sister’s house is bustling with the entire Winslow gang, but my attention is pulled across the room to where Maria stands in the kitchen. Her eyes are busy keeping track of Izzy as Ty’s fiancée Rachel holds her, and although Maria looks a little out of sorts, she also looks fucking beautiful.
Damn, I’ve missed her.
Even though it kind of feels like a lifetime, it’s only been two long days since I’ve loved on Maria and Izzy. The urge to scratch at least one of the itches is nearly uncontrollable. That said, I’d wager it’d be slightly inappropriate to scratch things with Maria in mixed company, so I swoop in and steal Izzy from Rachel instead.
Rachel voices her annoyance with me, albeit more amused than anything, but Maria smiles.
And the small shadow of her happiness makes the victory of my acquisition feel even more significant. I wink at her over Izzy’s head, snuggling her sweet baby smell so deep it’ll stay with me forever, and then cross the room to the woman I haven’t stopped thinking about since I left her apartment.
“Package acquired,” I say under my breath, spinning around to push my hips into the counter next to Maria like I’m some kind of international spy.
“You’re an absolute weirdo,” she replies, crossing her arms over her chest in an attempt to seem disinterested. She’s out of luck, though, because the angle of her body and the twinkle in her perfect eyes say otherwise.
Which is probably why Jude picks that very moment to turn into a fucking child and stick a wet finger in my ear. My brothers are the best in the world—bar none—at ruining a moment.
“Dammit, Jude,” I gripe, shifting out from under the power of his wet willy and passing the baby to Maria, so I don’t have to multitask while I’m kicking his ass.
“Boys!” my mom shouts, putting a hand against my chest just as Jude skirts out the back door and sticks his tongue out at me like he’s eight years old again. On a sigh, Wendy glances from the door her youngest son just escaped out of, back to me, her eldest son, and rolls her eyes. “You know he’s not worth the effort. Toddlers never understand rationale or reasoning.”
My sister and even Jude’s wife Sophie laugh at that, and I instantly decide my mother is right and let Jude act like an idiot alone.
Maria is waiting where I left her, but now, she’s wearing a smirk. “Even after all these years, I see nothing has changed.”
“Jude has a wife instead of a bedroom that smells like dirty old gym socks, but that’s about it.”
Her smirk morphs into a big smile. “I like it. It feels…familiar or something.”
“Uncle Remy, is this Maria?”
I look down to find Lexi standing there, looking up at us, but Maria is already quick to introduce herself.
“You must be Lexi,” she says, and my niece holds out her hand.
“Yes. I’m Lexi. Nice to meet you.”
“The feeling is mutual.” Maria engages in the handshake with the hand that isn’t holding Izzy and glances at me with an amused gleam in her eye. “I’ve heard so much about you. I’m glad we finally get to meet.”